Stronghold! In 4 decades, NC has lost only twice in Srinagar

Srinagar, Mar 25: National Conference has lost the central Kashmir Parliamentary seat only twice since 1977 emphasizing the party’s stronghold on the constituency from which Farooq

Abdullah filed his nomination on Monday.

The Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled to go for polls on April 18 and has 12,90,318 voters, who will cast their votes at 1,716 polling stations set up in the constituency.

The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat is spread over three districts: Srinagar, Budgam, and Ganderbal. It has 12,90,318 voters who will cast their votes at 1,716 polling stations set up in the constituency.

While Farooq, who submitted his nomination papers on Monday, is a joint candidate of the National Conference and Congress, the Peoples Democratic Party has decided to field Aga Syed Mohsin from Srinagar.

The National Conference president was earlier declared the winner of the Srinagar Lok Sabha bye-election in April 2017.

He defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Nazir Khan by 10,766 votes.

Earlier, Farooq suffered the first ever defeat of his career in 2014 when he lost to the then PDP’s leader Tariq Hamid Karra.

The NC faced a defeat in 1996, when the Congress candidate Ghulam Mohammad Mir (Magami) emerged winner from Srinagar parliamentary constituency.

In rest of the elections, the NC candidates emerged winners from Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.

Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah represented it in 1977, Farooq Abdullah-1980, Abdul Rashid Kabuli-1984, Mohammad Shafi Bhat 1989 (uncontested), Omar Abdullah-1998, 1999, 2004, and Farooq Abdullah-2009 against PDP candidate Iftikhar Ansari.

National Conference, General Secretary, Ali Mohammad Sagar, said that people of Kashmir need a ‘louder and credible” voice to represent them in Parliament.

“Dr Sahab (Farooq Abdullah) is the one who can raise the issues of Kashmiris. He is a well experienced politician and Kashmiris have no other choice,” Sagar said.

“Dr Sahab has done a lot for Kashmiris. The National Conference has taken many welfare initiatives in the state, which are non-comparable,” he added.

While the PDP seems sure of its candidate’s ‘win’ despite him being a lesser known face. “You can measure from the works we did during our tenure. Our candidate is a well-respected and honest person. People shall give him a chance and see how he will represent them in the Parliament,” PDP Chief Spokesperson Rafi Ahmad Mir said.